Rocket League Nintendo Switch: Is It Cross-Play?

Rocket League is nearly here for the Nintendo Switch. Whether this is your first time playing the game or not, there will certainly be a small learning curve as you get used to playing Rocket League on a new console.

Rocket League is available for the Xbox One, PS4, PC and now Nintendo Switch but fans are wondering if all of those versions will be able to play together. The answer is, for the most part, a yes. Rocket League on the Nintendo Switch will feature cross-play between the Nintendo Switch, PC and Xbox One. Similar systems have long been in place with the other consoles but it is also confirmed with the Nintendo Switch version.

One platform, and arguably the biggest due to the PS Plus version of Rocket League, is the PS4. With both Rocket League and Minecraft going cross-play with the other platforms, we’ve seen Sony distance themselves from this. Here’s how Sony defended themselves when asked about this by Eurogamer.

Minecraft works cross-platform between Switch, Xbox and PC. Today, Rocket League was announced as working cross-platform between Switch, Xbox and PC. Both don’t work cross-platform with PlayStation. Now, is this Sony not playing ball? What is actually going on here?

Jim Ryan: It’s certainly not a profound philosophical stance we have against this. We’ve done it in the past. We’re always open to conversations with any developer or publisher who wants to talk about it. Unfortunately it’s a commercial discussion between ourselves and other stakeholders, and I’m not going to get into the detail of that on this particular instance. And I can see your eyes rolling.

Well, you must see that PlayStation owners are upset. They want to play with Switch owners, PC owners and Xbox One owners for these two big and important games, and they don’t have an explanation for why. That’s what I’m getting at, really.

Jim Ryan: Yeah. We’ve got to be mindful of our responsibility to our install base. Minecraft – the demographic playing that, you know as well as I do, it’s all ages but it’s also very young. We have a contract with the people who go online with us, that we look after them and they are within the PlayStation curated universe. Exposing what in many cases are children to external influences we have no ability to manage or look after, it’s something we have to think about very carefully.

This doesn’t mean the door is completely slammed shut but it doesn’t seem like a cross-play is coming any time soon. For what it’s worth, the PS4 version does have cross-play with PC. Without the cross-play, PS4 is still the best selling console of this generation so it probably doesn’t hurt the game’s size all that much.

While there is no way to make cross-platform parties with friends as of yet on other platforms, you will still get matched up with players from the other consoles. Basically this will just enlarge the playerbase which might be important for a game just releasing.